


this is life in color

by amyscascadingtabs



Series: the santiago-peralta family stories [5]
Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Jake is the most supportive husband, Pregnancy, Pregnant Amy Santiago, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 16:09:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17410025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amyscascadingtabs/pseuds/amyscascadingtabs
Summary: It's already occurred several times that Amy needs to speak with him about something pregnancy-related while other people are around, resulting in them coming up with a not-so-great excuse about the two of them absolutely needing to go see her niece’s school performance in the middle of the day when they left for the ultrasound, a lie which later led to one too many questions from Terry about the show they had to come up with fake answers to. They need a new system, and Jake knows exactly what it's going to be.





	this is life in color

**Author's Note:**

  * For [johnny-and-dora (sian_jpg)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sian_jpg/gifts).
  * Inspired by [holding back the flood](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16049075) by [johnny-and-dora (sian_jpg)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sian_jpg/pseuds/johnny-and-dora). 



> so I have a few fics I love very much and one of them is holding back the flood. in fact, I love it so much that I asked siân if I could write something inspired by it and here it is, the backstory of the color-coded pregnancy situations system. if you haven't read that fic, go read it after or before this but read it!!
> 
> this does kind of belong to my pregnancy fic collection, but since I needed to add a few special things to say that it's a gift and inspired by a fic, I'm posting it separately!
> 
> title from life in color by onerepublic because color-coded systems

Jake really should be sleeping.

It’s two a.m. at night, T-minus five hours to their alarms going off for work the next morning, and he didn’t exactly sleep much the night before this either. None of these facts are well compatible with him getting to work on a craft project- yet a craft project is exactly what he has placed in front of him at this moment. He has a set of markers, not his wife’s best ones (he wouldn’t dare use those in anything but an emergency) but the ones ranked number three in her top-five sets of them, white paper, a neon pink highlighter and a black 0.5 pen, an old magazine to keep the paper flat while he’s working and a head full of ideas.

Well, technically it’s just one idea. But it’s a good one. It should count as several ideas, seeing how proud and probably a little bit horny this should make his wife. She deserves it, especially since the reason he’s up in the first place is due to him being woken up by her throwing herself out of bed an hour ago to rush to the bathroom. He spent the following thirty minutes sitting legs crossed on their bathroom floor holding back her hair, helping her take deep breaths, getting her water and eventually helping her brush her teeth and get back to bed.

Being seven weeks (and three days) pregnant is apparently no joke. He wishes desperately he could do it for her, take over the near-constant nausea and exhaustion and headaches for even a day or two, but since he lacks both a uterus and magic powers, that’s not happening anytime soon. A pregnancy is _long_ , he’s learning, and the weeks until they’re past the point where the risk for miscarriage is lowered and they’ll announce it to their friends and family seems the longest. He wants to shout it from the rooftops already, that Amy’s for realz-realz pregnant, they're having a baby, he’s slightly helped in the creation of a tiny mini human growing inside of his wife. It's the best secret he's ever carried and he can't even tell Charles. In fact, as of right now they're three living beings aware of it; him, his wife and the raspberry-sized fetus pictured like a white blob on the ultrasound picture stuck to their fridge.

 

This would all be fine and dandy if it weren't for the fact that they spend the majority of their day around people who doesn't know and can't know yet. It's already occurred several times that Amy needs to speak with him about something pregnancy-related while other people are around, resulting in them coming up with a not-so-great excuse about the two of them absolutely _needing_ to go see her niece’s school performance in the middle of the day when they left for the ultrasound, a lie which later led to one too many questions from Terry about the show they had to come up with fake answers to. They need a new system, and Jake knows exactly what it's going to be.

 

On the paper in front of him, he's drawn seven slightly skewed squares in different sizes and colored them each. There's a blue one, a red one, yellow, green, purple, orange and pink, their color labeled next to them. Under the titles are brief descriptions for what the colors stand for.

It’s the middle of the night and Jake Peralta has created a code system just for him and his wife to be able to talk about anything pregnancy-related without raising anyone’s suspicions. He’s literally never been prouder of himself, and this overpowering pride is making him way too excited to keep this brilliant creation to himself. Amy needs to know.

 

She’s already stirring next to him, so he’s not technically waking her up - just giving her something good to wake up to. He places a gentle hand on her shoulder, squeezing it a little bit and getting an incomprehensible murmur back.

“Hey, Ames, I made us something.”

“Hnnnfffgggghh”, the response comes. “How important?”

“It’s a code system.”

Her eyes are suddenly wide open as she looks up from the pillow she’s buried her head in, pushing her sleep-tousled hair away from her face to see him better. “Do spill”, she yawns.

“So you know how it’s been an issue recently that we can’t talk about the whole -” He gestures to her flat stomach “- pregnant thing, around other people yet? I’ve come up with a solution.” Jake holds up the paper.

Her eyes grow wider, mouth gaping. “A _color-based code system_?”

“Indeed. Want me to walk you through it?”

“ _Please_.”

“Thought so”, he grins. “We begin with code red. Code red is the one I hope we don’t have to use, but it’s there in case. It means health emergency. If you start experiencing a lot of pain or heavy bleeding or any of that bad stuff the pregnancy podcast I listened to while making dinner yesterday talked about, or if you’re feeling weird and you’re worried, tell me code red and it means we’re going the hospital stat.”

“Safety measure”, she nods. “Smart. And I’m really proud of you for listening to a podcast.”

“I know, that’s why I did it. Next we have code blue. Code blue’s if you’re crying or spiralling or anxious - if everything’s too much and you need me to come talk you down.”

“Might happen, yeah.”

“Code yellow is if you’re really nauseous or exhausted or feeling too crappy to be at work and need me to take you home”, he continues. “Because I will. I know you take your job really seriously, but you need rest.”

Amy smiles, running her thumb over his cheek. “That’s very sweet of you.”

“Doi. Then there’s code orange. That means someone is close to finding out and we need to help the other one cover so the news don’t get out before we want them to.”

“Smart. And what’s code green for?”

“Well, I figured I should include everything, so code green’s basically if you need me to take you away to storage locker J and get you in a better mood, so to speak.”

She rolls her eyes. “I’m not having sex with you at work.”

“Oh, you say that now.” He nods, giving her a serious look. “But the pregnancy podcast also did say that pregnant women’s sex drives can get really intense in the second trimester and I want you to know that I’m always available for that.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“ I take my job as husband and baby daddy very seriously. Anyway, code purple is food cravings. If you need me to get you milkshakes or exotic vegetables or whatever you’re craving, code purple and the food you need me to get.”

“Got it. And what’s the last square?”

“The last square is code pink”, he explains. “That’s similar to code blue, I’d say, but in a more positive way. It’s if you need to talk to me and be sappy and emotional over how great this is.” He places the paper on his nightstand to free his hands, shuffling closer to her to hold her in his arms and placing his right hand to a spot low on her stomach. “Because even though you’re pretty miserable right now, and I can’t really do much, we’re still having a baby, you know?” Saying the words makes him chuckle, marvelled by how insane that very fact is. “Like, there’s going to be a tiny half-you half-me keeping us awake at night in a few months, and we’re going to get to order Harry Potter onesies and make our boring storage room into a dope nursery and we’re going to be parents”, he whispers.

“We’re really going to be parents”, she agrees in a hushed voice, wiping a few tears away and placing her left hand over is. “That’s so crazy.”

“I bet our baby will be the cutest in the world.”

“Oh, definitely. They’re already adorable and they only _just_ lost their tail.”

“And they’ll be strong and brave and intelligent and all those things too, because obviously they’re going to be more than pretty.”

“Obviously.”

 

They lie there for a while, eyes closed and breathing in sync.

“You know”, Amy eventually breaks the silence. “I’m just saying - this is probably one of the hottest things you’ve ever done.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

“Maybe I could call in sick tomorrow”, she mumbles before kissing him, letting her hands wander.

_Success._

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I want a peraltiago baby okay please dan goor these two need to become parents


End file.
